Saturday, August 30, 2025

GardenDC Podcast Episode 254: The New American Gardener

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with Rochelle Greayer of the American Horticultural Society, about her vision for the American Gardener magazine. The plant profile is on Korean Angelica and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on Apple Orchard Antics by Christy Page of GreenPrints


If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 40: Botanical Latin and Labels

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/04/gardendc-podcast-episode-54-flower.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 6: Spring-Flowering Trees and Shrubs with David Ellis

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/04/gardendc-podcast-episode-6-spring.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 9: All Things Azalea

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/05/gardendc-podcast-episode-9-all-things.html

BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter/subscriber at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/subscribe

Visit https://shop.kathyjentz.com/ to browse our new online store!

This episode is archived at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ICuVwx0YzZR34wEHxmeRB?si=032ef0a05cde479a

Show Notes will be posted after 9-6-2025.

We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.

And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!

Episode Credits:
Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz
Music: Let the Sunshine by James Mulvany

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Friday, August 29, 2025

Fenton Friday: Colin’s Cucumbers and Zucchini

Colin Davan and cucumbers. Photo by Ian Ferris.

Guest Blog by Colin Davan

With a pile of seeds spread across the table, I was left with some tough decisions. After my fellow summer interns Miguel and Ian had picked their tomatoes and peppers, I was tasked with four seed packs: two kinds of cucumbers and two types of zucchini plants. 

However, these were not just any vegetable plants. Each brought their own unique challenges and tasks. Starting with the cucumbers, I had one pack of Slicing Cucumber and another of Japanese Climbing Cucumber, which required a tomato cage surrounding it, hence the name.

Moving to the zucchini, I was in charge of the Nimba Squash Zucchini and Dark Star Zucchini. 

The summer plot got off to a hot start with Miguel and Ian planting their tomato and pepper seedlings. In my first week, I spent my time thoroughly weeding and clearing out the section of the plot I was given. Since these vegetable plants required so much space, I delayed my seed sowing until the second week. 


The second week, I returned and formed the four small mounds spaced out a couple of feet from one another. After I planted the seeds in each mound, topped them with compost, and surrounded them with straw, I protected them with small wire pieces (hardware cloth), so the urban pests would not come to take my special seeds or baby seedlings. I stood back and took a picture of the dirt mounds. I began to wonder: what will come of these seeds? Will I find any success in the garden this summer?

After returning the following week, a glimpse of success began to push out from the mounds. Small green seedlings had begun to arise with a few pesky weeds around them. I tended to my four small mounds and returned the following week. 

When I returned, I saw an increase in seedlings that were beginning to flourish. Both of the cucumber plant mounds exploded as each had several small seedlings that I would eventually thin down to two each. However, I was not seeing close to the same progress with my zucchini plants. 


Photos from top down: Thriving 'Nimba' Squash Zucchini, Climbing Cucumbers, and failed 'Dark Star' Zucchini.

I would come to find later on that my zucchini plants would ultimately give me problems all summer. The Dark Star never produced a seedling and the Nimba Squash grew much more slowly than my cucumbers. However, that did not deter my garden grind. We planted a different zucchini squash variety (' Zucchini 'Black Beauty') in Dark Star's former spot and gave extra care to my zucchini each week.

As the blazing hot weeks in the garden went on, my Nimba Squash and both cucumbers would grow at exponential rates. Powerful rainstorms all throughout July, hot sunny days, and a little bit of fish fertilizer created the perfect mix for results. 

By late July and early August, I had begun to see flowers and small cucumbers, but no actual zucchini yet. A bit of concern began to creep in as the deadline for submissions in the Montgomery County Fair was quickly approaching, and I did not have enough similar-looking cucumbers or zucchini ready to submit an entry. 

I was able to harvest many cucumbers from my Japanese Climbing plant and ended up submitting them to the DC State Fair (results below*). While the zucchini plants struggled, I was able to get a nice zucchini, which I used in a chocolate zucchini cake. (Thanks Kathy for the recipe!)

At the end of my Fenton journey, I realized this experience was not only about producing cucumbers and zucchini, but also of overcoming obstacles and strengthening my patience. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity with the Washington Gardener Magazine this summer, as I got to enhance my journalistic skills while also being on the Fenton plot working in a nice community garden.

*UPDATE:

The cucumber won first place! See the results at https://www.dcstatefair.org/2025-contest-results.

About the Author:


Colin Davan is an intern this summer session with Washington Gardener. He is a rising senior at the American University in Washington, DC, studying journalism with a minor in history. He grew up just outside of Boston in two towns (Hopkinton and Framingham), both with backyards always filled with a wide variety of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits.

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Monday, August 25, 2025

Monday Thoughts: "How sociable the garden was. We ate and talked in given light. The children put their toys to grass All the warm wakeful August night." ~ Thom Gunn

"How sociable the garden was. We ate and talked in given light. The children put their toys to grass All the warm wakeful August night." ~ Thom Gunn

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Sunday, August 24, 2025

Tomato Taste Results: Citrine Shines Through

We had more than 300 people come to today's Washington Gardener Magazine 15th Annual Tomato Taste at the FreshFarm Silver Spring Market. Here are the results of the ballots submitted.

  1. Citrine from The Farm at Our House
  2. Sun Gold from Mock's Greenhouse   
  3. Purple Cherry from Mock's Greenhouse   
  4. Dixieland Gold (Dixie Golden Giant?) from Ben's Produce
  5. Cherry Bomb from The Farm at Our House        
  6. Cherokee Purple from Ben's Produce
  7. Juliet from Quaker Valley Orchards  
  8. Spiral Sweet Grape Tomato from Spiral Path Farm    
  9. Sweet Treats from The Farm at Our House     

This year the top three tomatoes had the vast majority of votes -- those sweet cherry varieties are hard to beat! The winner 'Citrine' had 2/3 of the total vote -- it wasn't even close.  The rest of the pack were separated by just a few votes. This shows you that there were no real "losers" in this batch and that every tomato had its share of hard-core fans. Talking to folks, after they voted, they each insisted their chosen tomato was far superior to the others and I heard raves for each of the 9 choices.

Do take a minute to click on the photo link here to view the Facebook album of photos from the event. I think you will agree that the market tomatoes are absolutely gorgeous and very photogenic -- and so are the market patrons!


Big thanks to Chef Sara Hayden of Vita Cooking School who joined us this year and shared her Gazpacho recipe and to Dimitri Olive Oil for the Balsamic Viniagrette we used on additional tomato tasting samples (and they donated a couple more bottles for the prize package!).

In addition to the tastings, many people stopped by to create colorful tomato art and to pick up the free tomato seeds, growing tips, and recipes that we gave out.


We gave out a gift bag full of gardening goodies, tomatoes, and market money to one of the tomato taste voters. Congratulations to EJ!  Her parents told us she is a HIGE tomato fan and was thrilled to win.

Most of the taste attendees were local, though we also had many who came quite a distance. About two-thirds live in Silver Spring. Another third live close by in Washington, DC or the neighboring towns of Takoma Park, Chevy Chase, Hyattsville, etc. A few are from far outside of the area, we even had votes from Illinois, South Carolina, and New Hamshire!

Thank you to all who came and participated. Thanks to the farmers for growing great tomatoes and to FreshFarm Markets staff for hosting us. Special thanks also to our interns (Colin Davan, Ian Ferris, and Miguel Zarate) and volunteers (MD Smith and Alexandra Jentz) for helping with all the tomato sample cutting, vote tallying, and helping greet all the tasters in the short, but jam-packed two-hour event!
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Saturday, August 23, 2025

GardenDC Podcast Episode 253: The Farm-to-Vase Movement

In this episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, we talk with Alex Mudry-Till of Quince Blossom Ridge, all about cut-flower farming. The plant profile is on Patrinia and we share what's going on in the garden as well as some upcoming local gardening events in the What's New segment. We close out with the Last Word on Travels with Iris by Christy Page of GreenPrints.

If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening to:

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 54: Flower Farming with Lisa Mason Ziegler

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/04/gardendc-podcast-episode-54-flower.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 104: Dahlias

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2022/05/gardendc-podcast-episode-104-dahlias.html

~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 19: Floral Design with Holly Heider Chapple

https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2020/07/gardendc-podcast-episode-19-floral.html

BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter/subscriber at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/subscribe

Visit https://shop.kathyjentz.com/ to browse our new online store!

This episode is archived at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0UmKbt3r9piKWEepxGAdyZ?si=yJRyOe29TsqqXZucvhjdFQ

Show Notes will be posted after 8-26-2025.

We welcome your questions and comments! You can leave a voice mail message for us at: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/message Note that we may use these messages on a future episode.

And be sure to leave us a 5-star review on your favorite podcast platform plus share us on social media with #GardenDC, so other gardeners can find us too!

Episode Credits:
Host and Producer: Kathy Jentz
Music: Let the Sunshine by James Mulvany

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Friday, August 22, 2025

Fenton Friday: Learning While Growing Tomatoes

 
Guest Blog by Miguel Zarate

At the beginning of the summer, the other interns and I were given a selection of vegetables to grow throughout the course of the summer. I chose the tomatoes as they had always been a subject of interest for me. 

 

I had constantly heard from my mother and grandmother how unruly and difficult to grow they are--needing specific conditions to grow. I decided to take on the challenge, we were growing from seedlings already started in pots. so the difficult task of getting to seed was already taken care of. 

 

On that first day, we took them to the garden to be planted. I also planted a marigold flower right at the edge of the tomato bed. This helps to deter certain pests and keep my tomatoes safe. 

 

With that, the plants were in their spots. I planted five varieties: 'Marriage Mazinera', 'Celebrity', 'Green Zebra', 'Sun Gold', and 'Wild Cherry' (currant). The Marriage Mazinera’s ended up not lasting very long. It wasn’t in the best shape when I planted it, so I wasn’t upset about the death of my plant, but I still had hope. I put it in the center, hoping that being in the middle would promote nutrient cross over from the others. 

 

In the following weeks, we developed a routine. After our weekly indoor meetings, we would head to the garden to weed, water, and fertilize. On weeding, this is definitely my least favorite part of gardening. We also had some aggressive Yarrow, which desperately wanted to be a part of the garden but I had to pull it out each time it grew and got close to the tomatoes. 

 

As a kid my parents would have me help them in the garden, pulling various weeds from the ground. I hated it, sitting in the sun and wrestling with plants wasn’t my idea of a fun morning back then. 

 

As an adult, I still didn’t enjoy it, but this time around it felt like I was growing for myself rather than being told to do it. If I didn’t, my tomatoes would die. 


On that subject, the first week of July brought my summer nemesis: blight.

My poor Wild Cherries were afflicted with the blight. I’m a relatively inexperienced gardener, so I did my best to trim the infected leaves but it didn’t go the best. The infection stayed with the cherries all the way until the end. Luckily, I got a few tomatoes from it before the fungus claimed the life of another tomato. 

Another thing I noticed about my tomatoes was their growth, they started about a foot tall and quickly grew, to just over two to three feet tall. This led to two things: one, they were all over each other which caused the blight to jump to other tomatoes, but removing those infected leaves was simple. The other issue was that my tomatoes were becoming unruly neighbors to my co-intern's Ian Ferris’ peppers. 

It was on me to wrangle these plants, so I used some string and tomato clips that mostly stopped them from stretching over boundaries. 

 

In the end, I harvested handfuls of small 'Sun Gold' tomatoes. For the harvest where we entered the tomatoes into the Montgomery County Fair, I was out of town. Kathy Jentz submitted them for me and they earned third place in the "orange, preserving (aka cherry)" tomato category, which wasn’t something I expected for my first tomato plant. I’m proud of them for growing so well. I will definitely grow more of my own tomatoes in the future. I’m so glad I had this opportunity with the Washington Gardener, definitely not what I expected for my summer when I switched to journalism, but the experience has been incredible. Growing a plant really teaches you about patience, which is something you need a lot of as a writer and reporter.

 

About the Author:

Miguel Zarate is an intern this summer session with Washington Gardener. He is majoring in journalism with a minor in sustainability. His favorite thing to grow in his mother’s garden, where he helps out, is mint, because it is so plentiful.

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